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Accreditation and Affiliations

Accreditation is a cooperative system of certification and quality assurance wherein communities of academics establish criteria (or standards) which define accepted practice and then hold one another accountable to the criteria. Institutions are accredited as a whole by regional accrediting agencies. Some individual academic programs can be accredited through national organizations. Accrediting agencies are not governmental entities, but rather voluntary, cooperative associations of schools and scholars. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation's website offers a more in-depth introduction to accreditation.

Accreditation provides the prestige of national recognition and the assurance of quality for students, parents and other members of the community. The institution benefits as well from the self-reflection, self-improvement, and peer counsel that are part of the accreditation process.

The federal government enters the accreditation picture not through direct oversight, but through financial aid. To ensure that federal financial aid is well spent, the U.S. Department of Education provides financial aid only to students of accredited institutions. The USDOE thus recognizes and validates the work of the regional accrediting agencies in the peer review process, but also bears influence on accrediting agencies and accredited institutions through financial aid regulations.

Indiana Wesleyan University is accredited as a whole by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, one of the oldest accrediting agencies, founded in 1895. Six of our academic programs are nationally accredited by appropriate accrediting bodies.

In addition to accreditations, Indiana Wesleyan University is affiliated with a number of communities and associations that provide connections for cooperation and accountability.

Institutional Accreditation

Accrediting Agency

Program

IWU Contact

Initial Accreditation

Last Visit

Last Reaffirmation

Next Visit

HLCHigher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

INSTITUTIONAL SELF-STUDY FOR THE HIGHER LEARNING COMMISSION

As part of the comprehensive review of the institution by the Higher Learning Commission in the spring of 2010 that resulted in continued accreditation through 2020, Indiana Wesleyan University prepared an Institutional Report of self-study. The Institutional Report and related documents are available at the links below.

Other Approvals and Affiliations

Many of the programs and academic divisions of Indiana Wesleyan University maintain other discipline-specific approvals and affiliations.

Discipline-Specific Approvals

American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) American Association for Health Education (AAHE) American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Indiana Department of Education (Teacher Education) Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (Athletic Training and Nursing) Indiana State Board of Nursing (Nursing) National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)